Published: July 30, 2006 12:47 pm         

M&F expands to Florida, shows second-quarter gain

Merchants and Farmers Bank is expanding into Florida after reaching an agreement with Ameris Bancorp earlier this month, First M&F Corporation announced in a news release.

When the deal is complete, M&F will have a full-service branch office in Crestview, Fla. The transaction, which is expected to be completed later this year, is subject to regulatory approval.

It would be the fourth state in which Kosciusko-based Merchants and Farmers has a banking location. It has 45 banks throughout central and north Mississippi, central Alabama and southwest Tennessee.

First M&F entered into the agreement with Ameris Bancorp, which is headquartered in Moultrie, Ga., and two of its bank subsidiaries — American Banking Company in Moultrie and Tri-County Bank in Trenton, Fla. First M&F will purchase the stock, charter and certain other assets and liabilities of Tri-County then merge it into Merchants and Farmers and operate ts existing office in Crestview. American will operate Tri-County’s existing offices in Trenton and Newberry, Fla.

First M&F Corp. reported a second-quarter income of $3.251 million, an increase of $206,000 — or 2 cents per share — over the same quarter in 2005. The per-share numbers reflect the company’s 2-for-1 stock spilt that went into effect May 15.

“We are encouraged by early indications of growth opportunities in the Memphis metro area and are enthusiastic about our earlier annoncement of expanding our presence into the Florida panhandle,” said Hugh S. Potts Jr., chairman and CEO. “It is our objective to increase earnings per share and relative profitability concurrenty with expansion, which is challenging yet achievable.”

Total assets as of June 30 were $1.533 billion, compared to $1.208 billion on June 30, 2005. Other year-to-year comparisons for the same period (2005 numbers in parentheses):

Total loans: $1.08 billion ($876 million);

Total deposits: $1.205 billion ($954 million);

Total capital was $120.479 million, or $13.36 book value per share.